AgustaWestland: Key accused arrested in Italy

In a major breakthrough a key accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam has been held in Italy. Local authorities arrested Carlo Gerosa was detained a few days ago on his return from Switzerland based on a Red Corner Notice request from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing a case of alleged money-laundering in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore deal, sources said.

ED officials will now sent out an extradition request for the 70 year old Gerosa. In 2014, India scrapped the contract with AgustaWestland, the British subsidiary of Italian defence major Finmeccanica, for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contract and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore.

In July this year, the CBI arrested former IAF chief S P Tyagi along with his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and businessman Gautam Khaitan for their alleged involvement in the case - the ED has already filed multiple chargesheets on the deal.

An Italian court order running into 225 pages had said that payoffs were made to Indian officials. The court had also noted that companies owned by middleman Christian Michel promised and effectively paid through the Tyagi brothers.

In this case the former Air chief too is an accused in the case. It is alleged that he had been paid off through his cousins. The allegation against him is that he had made alterations to the specifications to favour AgustaWestland.